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Has anyone else been watching The Refugees, a BBC-Spanish co-production (2015) currently being shown on public television stations in the U.S.? The SF premise of the show is the same as Simak's Our Children's Children (1974). Billions of people from the future flee to our time to escape a future...

Webster's gets at the essence: "Serving as a standard of excellence ... of recognized value."

I hadn't heard of Google Books Ngrams before reading this thread. During a search of the subject this morning, I came across an article in Wired that looks at some of the problems associated with ngrams and their use: "Popularity Contests One of the traps in using ngrams to divine the...

I agree that Dick wasn't known outside the genre during his lifetime (he died the year Blade Runner was released), but he was certainly recognized within it. From Wikipedia: Hugo Awards Best Novel 1963 – winner: The Man in the High Castle 1975 – nominee: Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said...

Last and First Men 355 pages (first edition hardcover, 1930). Earth Abides 373 pages (first edition hardcover, 1949). A Canticle for Leibowitz 320 pages (first edition hardcover, 1960).

From Simak's foreword to his 1977 collection, Skirmish, The Great Short Fiction of Clifford D. Simak. "My concern has been with people, showing the impact made upon their lives by extraordinary situations or events. My physically courageous heroes have been few. Courage, if it is there, is more...

The collections The Wall Around the World (1962) and The Third Eye (1968) are the only books ever published by Cogswell (other than Spock, Messiah! co-authored with Charles A. Spano, Jr.). Cogswell is best known for his story The Spectre General (1952) which is included in Wall, as well as...

My 50 volumes. I would like to have included all 27 hardcovers in my Simak collection, but they would have taken up more than half the list. So I stuck to his greatest works and those minor works that have a nostalgic appeal for me. The First Men In the Moon (1901) - H.G. Wells A Princess of...

No. Not. Never. Arrival is just another "aliens arrive in giant ships that hover above us" movie. Even Amy Adams' exceptional performance doesn't save it from the "one cliché after another" category. The Visitors is far more original in concept.

Well, as they also say, one person's "wow" is another person's "meh." ;)

I just finished Our Children's Children (1974). It's one of Simak's best. Good plot and pacing, with some classic scenes (like the chicken coop!). A satisfying ending - consistent with hints given throughout the story.

I think I've shared this here once before, but this Emmy-winning documentary gives you a good idea of what Simak Country is like. (If you decide to retire in Wisconsin - welcome! I live in the central part of the state, and we Wisconsinites are proud of the natural beauty that can be found...

The mutant otters in The Demon Breed (1968) by James H. Schmitz.

Watership Down (1972) and The Plague Dogs (1978) lead my list of top 10 favorite novels - of any kind. Adams brought back the animal fantasy story, made it compelling for both young people and adults, and inspired a short revival of the type: Walter Wangerin, Jr.'s The Book of the Dun Cow (1978)...

Yes, I've seen It! The Terror From Beyond Space and I agree that it, too, must have been an influence on Alien screenwriter Dan O'Bannon. He seems to have borrowed rather freely from several sources.

Have you seen this movie? A ship with a human crew picks up a mysterious signal from an unexplored planet. The crew lands to investigate and they discover a crashed alien ship. Inside the ship, they find a giant, mummified alien at the controls. The humans are then attacked by an alien life form...

Clifford D. Simak, Ring Around the Sun (1953). “I have read this one,” he said. “I had a lot of time to read previous to coming here.” “Yeah?” Bobby kindled. “Is it good?” “One of his best … In this book,” he said, “Mr. Simak postulates the idea that there are a number of worlds like ours...

The only White I've read besides The Genocidal Healer (1991) is The Dream Millennium (1974). Written at the tail end of the New Wave, I thought the book was something of a throwback for its time: an excellent example of the Golden Age tradition, whether you consider the Golden Age to be the...

Adding books and magazines to your collection? Discovering minor authors you've never read before? Or finally reading a major author who - for one reason or another - you've avoided or neglected? Finally getting around to the lesser-known books and stories of your favorite authors? Or upon...

Clifford D. Simak, who wrote about mind travel. Obviously, he got space travel absolutely right, because traveling by means of the mind (or imagination) to other worlds (beyond our moon) is the only way readers and writers have ever done it.